Permanent waving method



May 1, 1934, D. LAKENBACH 1,957,047

PERMANENT WAVI NG METHOD Filed Jan. 4, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet l ATTORNEY y1934- D. LAKENBACH 1,957,047

PERMANENT WAVING METHOD Filed Jan. 4, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented May1, i934 gi'ATES PATENT GFFECE PEBIHANENT HAVING li/IETHGD YorkApplication January 4, 1933, Serial No. 650,084-

7 Claims.

in which method the hair is divided into tresses or strands, each ofsuch strands being secured adjacent to the scalp within a clampingdevice, said strand being then wound from its end adjacent to the scalptoward its free end, upon a rod, partly in 16 the form of a helicoidalcurl and partly in the form of a concentric curl as hereinafter moreparticularly defined.

Among the objects of the invention is to provide a method of permanentwaving which combines all or the desi able features and advantageousresults of the two methods of permanent waving now known to the artwithout the disadvantages of either of such methods. One of such methodsknown to the prior art is desighated as the Croquignole method, and theother of such methods is known as the spiral method, of permanentwaving. These two known methods will be described hereinafter in detailwith particular reference to the advantages and disadvantages of eachand the manner in which the present invention retains the former andeliminates the latter.

Other objects or the invention are to provide a method of permanentlywaving human hair which is designed to effect the particular type ofwaving of the hair at certain portions thereof by the method required bythe characteristics of the hair, and providing by another method forwaving other portions of the hair the characteristics of which portionsrequire such second method. Still further objects of the invention willbe obvious to those skflled in the art from the following detaileddescriptions or" the method and apparatus.

In order to make clear the distinction between the method of the presentinvention and the methods of the prior art, it may be here stated thatno method of the prior art has combined the curling of the hair and thewaving thereof, as hereinafter more fully defined, in a succession ofsteps performed as part of a unitary operation, upon a single tress ofhair. In other words, no method as yet devised has been capable ofimparting curls and waves to a single strand of hair by winding the hairon one spindle so as to impart a curl to that portion of the tresswhich, by reason of the characteristics of the hair, requires theimparting of a curl thereto, and imparting a wave in the same continuousoperation to that portion of the tress of hair which requires aso-called wave.

In the method of the prior art, more particularly designated as theCroquignole method of permanent Waving, a so-called curl has beenimparted to the tress of hair by winding the strand, from its free endtoward the end adjacent to the scalp, upon a rod, whereupon such strandis treated with a solution, while enclosed in a substantially moisturetight envelope, the envelope being covered with a sectional heater bywhich heat is applied to the strand. In this conventional method, thehair is wound on the spindle or curling rod in a continuous series ofconcentric overlapping circles so that the hair, after it has been givenits heat treatment, has imparted thereto a circular or substantiallyconcentric configuration which, for the lack of a more precisedescriptive term, is defined as a curl.

In the second well known method of permanent waving, the tress of hairto be waved is wound upon a tapered rod, the smaller diameter end ofwhich is placed near the scalp, the tress of hair being wound from itsend adjacent to the scalp toward its free end upon such tapered rod inthe form of a spiral so that the hair after heat treatment has impartedthereto a helicoidal configuration described in the art as a spiralwave.

The disadvantages of the first mentioned, or Croquignole method ofwaving hair, whereby a curl is obtained after heat treatment of thehair, arise from the fact that with such method certain portions of thetress of hair, i. e., the portion directly adjacent to the scalp, aswell as that near the free end of the same tress, is treated so as toproduce a curl. As it is a well known fact that newly grown hair,growing at the rate of approximately one-half inch per month, is moreresistant to waving than old hair, since the scales of newly formed hairhave not yet been worn, with the Croquignole method the hair near thefree end of the tress is properly waved, i. e., given a curl, but thehair near the scalp, which is more resistant to waving, is also given acurl. This method, therefore, is not satisfactory. In the Croquignolemethod, the hair near the end of the tress is wound upon the curling rodin concentric circles of small diameter While the hair near the scalp,by the time the curling rod reaches such inner end of the tress, iswound upon the rod in concentric circles of large diameter. Thiscondition is just the opposite of that desirable, as the concentriccircles of small diameter should be imparted to the portion of the tressadjacent to the scalp, since the hair in such portion of the tress ismore resistant to waving, and the hair at the free end of the tressshould be wound on the rod in concentric circles of large diameter, asthe desired curl is more easily imparted to the less resistant hair nearthe free end of such tress.

The disadvantages of the conventional spiral method of permanent wavingarise from the fact that by using a tapered rod, in the mannercharacteristic of such method, the hair of the tress near the scalp iswound in concentric circles of small diameter, thereby obtaining a verygood wave near the scalp, but the portions of the hair near the free endof the tress are not so perfect as if a Croquignole wave were given tothat portion of the hair. While these disadvantages have been heretoforerecognized by those skilled in the art, no solution to the problem hasas yet been devised, by reason of the fact that by using the tapered rodas required by the spiral method no suitable combination of the twomethods could be obtained, as no means for anchoring the hair on the rodat various points along the tapered rod have been found. In order toappreciate this difficulty, the fact should be borne in mind that incarrying out the spiral method the hair is anchored at the smalldiameter end of the rod by means of a piece of string, the string beingwound about the hair after such hair has been wound about the rod.Moreover, in order to secure the free end of the tress upon the rodafter the hair has been wound upon such rod it has been necessary to usea second piece of string to secure that end of the tress to the rod.

As the necessity of imparting a curl to that portion of the hair whichrequires a curl, and of imparting a wave to that portion of the hairwhich requires a wave, has been recognized, it is not uncommon to useboth of the two methods hereinabove referred to in imparting permanentwaves to a single head of hair. Such practice, however, requires boththe equipment for carrying out the Croquignole method and that forcarrying out the spiral method, with attendant duplication of expense,labor, materials and the necessity of subjecting the person to whosehair the perma nent wave is to be imparted to the prolonged discomfortof submitting to two disassocia-ted operations for carrying out the twomethods performed independently with the two sets of apparatus.

The novel method of the present invention is designed to combine theadvantages of each of the two known methods of permanent waving abovedescribed, and to eliminate the disadvantages of each of said methods.The present method may be described as a combination of the Croquignoleand spiral methods, producing a permanent wave comprising both a Curland a wave. Thus, by my novel method, such portion of the hair asrequires a wave is given a wave, and that portion of the hair whichrequires a curl is given a curl, the characteristics of the hair beingtaken into consideration in determining which of the two types is to beimparted to the hair, or to any given portion thereof. My novel methodresults, therefore, in an extremely attractive appearance of the wavedhair when treated according to the combined method, and

. yet is capable of imparting an all-wave permanent or an all-curlpermanent if the characteristics of the hair should so require.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, I haveshown a particular embodiment of my invention by way of illustrationrather than by way of limitation. In such drawings,

Fig. 1 is a view in front elevation of my novel appliance by means ofwhich my novel method is preferably carried out;

Fig. 2 is a side view of such appliance;

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 33 of Fig. 1, showing one of theclamping members in its open position in dotted lines and the lever andcam mechanism for bringing the clamping members to their closedposition, also in dotted lines;

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a view in rear elevation, partly in section, of the appliance;

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the pad constituting the moisture retainingenvelope to be applied to the device;

Fig. 7 is a view in elevation of the appliance, showing the strand ofhair to be waved, secured within the clamping device at the beginning ofthe operation of winding the hair on the rod;

Fig. 8 is a similar view and shows the device in the course of its useat the stage when the second spiral winding of the hair upon the rod hasbeen completed;

Fig. 9 shows the device and strand of hair when the third spiral windingof the hair on the rod has been completed;

Fig. 10 shows the device with the winding of the hair on the rodcompleted;

Fig. 11 shows the manner in which the pad is wound over the hair afterthe latter has been wound upon the rod;

Fig. 12 shows the device in the condition in which the winding guide istilted so as to make possible the removal of the hair from the rod afterthe heat treatment thereof has been completed;

Fig. 13 shows the general configuration of the strand of hair removedfrom the device after the permanent wave has been imparted thereto bymeans of my novel method and apparatus; and

Fig. 14 shows a modified form of guide-plate provided with a combingmember, and also shows the electrical heating unit applied to thedevice.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, in which similar referencecharacters identify similar parts in the several views, 15 designatesone of the clamping elements of my clamping device, and 15 the other ofsaid clamping elements, the latter being pivotally connected to themember 15 at 17 by a link 18, the elements being held together in closedposition by a lever or bail 19 pivoted to the member 15 at 20, this bailbeing of a length sufiicient to straddle the end of the member 16 whenthe clamping device is closed. The end of each clamping member isslotted, as at 21, to receive the bail, and an eccentrically mounted cam22 pivotally connected to the bail 19 at 23, said cam having a handle 24so that, after the members 15 and 16 have been brought together, thehandle 24 may be swung around to substantially the position shown infull lines in Fig. 3 so as to cause the clamping device to firmly gripthe strands of hair making up the tress which is secured between suchclamping members.

Each of the clamping members 15 and 16 is preferably provided with a padof felt 25 on the surfaces thereof facing the scalp. One of the clampingmembers 15 in the particular embodlment illustrated) is provided with awedgeshaped clamping surface 26 adapted to co-operate, when the clampingmembers are brought together, with a grooved surface 27 of the otherclamping member (16 in the embodiment illustrated). The body of theclamping device is made of a material which is highly heat resistant,for instance, of hard rubber or a condensation product such as aphenolic resin. One of the clamping members is provided with a recess 28in the surface thereof adapted to cooperate with the meeting edge of theother clamping member, while said other clamping member is provided witha projecting body of a resilient material, for instance, rubber 29 of anouter configuration corresponding to that of the recess 28.

In applying the portion of the tress of hair to be waved to the clampingdevice, the portion thereof immediately adjacent to the scalp isinserted into the recess 28 in the side of the clamp ing member 16, theother clamping member being then brought into position so that the tressof hair is clamped between the members and held securely in position bythe body 29 of the resilient material entering the recess 28. When thelink 19 has been brought to the position where its cam 22 straddles theend of the clamping member 16' and the handle 24 is swung to theposition where lit effects a tight closure of the two members of theclamping device, the latter will firmly grip the strand of hair by meansof the wedged surface 26 of one of the members engaging the cooperatinggroove 2'7 in the other clamping j member.

Each of the clamping members 15 and 16 have secured thereto, as by meansof rivets 30, a strip of metal 31 having its free end in proximity tothe meeting edges of the clamping members 15 and 16. Secured within oneof the clamping members (member 15 in the embodiment illustrated) ametallic spring 32 is provided, the free end of which is in closeproximity to the free ends of plates 31 so that by depressing the freeend of the spring 32 a curling rod or spindle 33 may be secured at rightangles to the clamping device and held in such clamping device by theentrance of the free ends of the plates 31 into slots 34 provided in thehead portion 35 of the spindle.

This curling rod or winding spindle of my novel apparatus comprises arod, the central portion 36 of which is of reduced diameter, one end ofsaid rod being provided with the head 35 so constructed as to berotatable in only one direction as will be described more in detailhereinafter, and having the slots 34 therein by means of which such headand therefore the spindle may be secured upon the clamping device. Theother end of said spindle is provided with a reduced diameter head 3'7having a peripheral groove 38 into which the end of a set screw 39 isadapted to fit so as to secure upon said spindle the guide carryingblock 40 from which extends a finger grip 41. The block 40 has runningtherethrough a bore 42 (see Fig. 4) into which fits the head 37 of thespindle. To the block 40 is secured by screws 43 a plate 44 having aprojection 45 which projection acts as a pivoting point for the heelportion 46 of a winding guide element 4'7 to be hereinafter more fullydescribed, a reinforcing plate 48 being applied to the heel portion 45against which a spring 49, housed within a recess of the block 40. isadapted to press.

The winding guide element 47 comprises an arcuate strip of metal havinga plurality of apertures 50 in its surface and being of the generalconfiguration shown in Figs. 1 and 5, the end of such winding guideelement being curved as at 51 and bent outwardly from the surface of theguide element. This curved and bent extremity of the winding guideelement will be hereinafter referred to as the nose and has a veryimportant function in guiding the hair being wound upon the spindle toits proper position thereon.

The moisture-supplying and retaining envelope illustrated in Fig. 6comprises a strip of flannel 52 having a substantially rectangularportion 53, and a portion 58 tapering in width, integral with saidrectangular portion, and tabs 54, 55 extending from such taperingportion. At the end of the flannel strip opposite the tab-end isattached, for instance by stitching 56, a strip 57 of water-proof andsoft pliable metal material, for instance aluminum foil, having a widthsomewhat greater than the greatest width of the flannel strip 52.

The carrying out of my novel method involves the winding of the strandof hair to be waved upon the spindle 36, which winding is illustrated inFigs. '7 to 11 inclusive. For the pm'poses of clarity, the entire seriesof operations will now be described with particular reference to suchfigures.

Before the strand of hair 60 has been secured within the clampingdevice, as hereinabove described in detail, the flannel strip 52 issecured about the portion of the tress adjacent to the scalp by turningthe tabs 54, 55 about the strand so that the ends of such tabs willoverlap each other, and the strand, with the tabs lapped thereover, isplaced within the recess 28 of the clamping member 16 and the clampingmembers are brought together so as to secure between them such strand ofhair. The cam 22 is then swung around by its lever 19 and brought to itsposition to straddle the end of the clamping member 16 and the handle 24is brought to its position alongside the upper edge of the clampingmember 16 as illustrated in Fig. 3, the exposed portion of the flannelstrip 52 being turned to one side of the clamping device. The spindle 36is then grasped and its head 33 pressed against the free end of thespring 32 and the head 33 slipped into position within the clampingmembers by having the free ends of the plates 31 engage the slots 34 ofsuch head. The spindle 3'7 will thus be mounted upon the clampingdevice, so as to extend at right angles thereto. The operator, graspingthe clamping device in one hand may then manipulate the tress of hairwith the other hand, giving it a winding motion in a counterclockwisedirection so as to bring such tress of hair under the spindle and thenaround and over the same and thus position such hair immediately next tothe curved and bent nose 51 of the guiding plate 47 as clearlyillustrated in Fig. 7. The block 40 is then grasped by means of thefinger grip 41 and given a rotation so as to wind the hair upon thespindle in the desired spiral form by the action of the guide element47, pressing against the hair and automatically winding and stretchingthe hair properly upon the spindle. This stage of the winding operationis illustrated in Fig. 8. By giving the spindle and guiding plate anadditional rotation, or

as many as may be necessary, first, however,

turning the hair about the spindle so as to overlie the guiding plate,the hair is wound about the spindle in spiral formation as illustratedin Fig. 9.

When as many spiral windings have thus been imparted to the hair as maybe dictated by the nature and characteristics of the hair as previouslydetermined, the hair may be distributed by spreading the samesubstantially throughout the length of the spindle and the spindlerotated so as to wind the hair upon the spindle in the manner of aCroquignole winding. When this operation has been completed, the windingof the hair is substantially in the condition illustrated in Fig. 10.The flannel strip 52 is then brought forwardly of the clamping deviceand caught between the surface of the clamping device and the nose ofthe winding guide element and the flannel strip wound about the spindleupon which the hair has been wound so as to completely surround thespindle and the hair wound thereon, the spindle being rotated so thatthe winding guide element will be effective to wind the flannel stripabout the hair. When this operation has been completed, the device is inthe condition shown in Fig. 11. In the course of this operation anyexcess moisture that may be present in the flannel strip 52 isautomatically squeezed therefrom by the pressure of the guide plate uponsuch flannel strip. In this way the exact quantity of moisture necessaryfor the hair is retained in the flannel strip.

The aluminum foil 57 is then wound about the aggregate of spindle, hairand guiding plate, and securely fastened thereon by clamping the loweredge thereof against the outer extremity of the spindle. When thisoperation has been completed, the device is ready for the applicationthereto of any well known heating device, for instance, a sectionalheater such as is shown in the Mayer Reissue Patent No. 17,585. Insteadof such sectional heater, I may, of course, use any type of heating unitincluding the type recently developed comprising an envelope containinga mixture of chemicals which, when moisture is brought into contacttherewith, will produce heat of a suflicient degree of temperature andamount to efiect the necessary heat treatment of the hair to be waved.

When the heat treatment has been completed, the aluminum foil 57 may beunwound and the clamping members 15 and 16 separated as shown in Fig. 3,the head 33 of the spindle being thus freed so that after the removal ofthe clamping device the hair may be unwound from the spindle bydepressing the heel portion 46 of the guide plate 47 so as to bring theguide plate into the position shown in Fig. 12 in which position itspressure upon the wound hair is freed so that the hair may be easilyunwound from the spindle.

In Fig. 13 I have illustrated the approximate condition of the hairafter heat treatment in accordance with my method and by means of myapparatus, from which figure it will be seen that the portion of thetress near the scalp has had a spiral imparted thereto and the portionof the hair at the free end of the tress has had a curl impartedthereto.

In Fig. 14 I have illustrated a modified form of winding guide elementwhich differs from the guide plate hereinabove described only in beingprovided with a series of serrations forming a combing member 61, theteeth of such combing member being pressed outwardly from the surface ofthe metal comprising the guide plate, leaving a slot 62 in such guideplate and eliminating the necessity of providing the plate withapertures such as 50 of the preferred embodiment. In such modified form,as illustrated in Fig. 14,

I have also shown an electrical heating unit 63 mounted upon the guideplate and having terminal wires 64.

It is to be noted that the shank 37 of the spindle 36 turns withconsiderable freedom in 30 the proper direction (counterclockwise) towind up the strand of hair, but is so mounted on its head 35 thatsuincient frictional resistance is developed at the joint 33 to preventuncurling of the strand by its inherent resiliency. This may be providedfor by any suitable structure, and for the above purpose I have embodieda one-way friction clutch within the joint 33' which does not requirespecial description.

I claim:

1. The method of waving hair which comprises the steps of winding aplurality of strands individually to form the same partly into ahelicoid, progressively along the axis of the helix, and partly into aspiral, with concentric layers extended upon each other around saidaxis, said steps being performed in the order named as parts of aunitary operation.

2. The method of waving hair which comprises the steps of winding astrand to form the same partly into a helicoid, progressively along theaxis of the helix, and partly into a spiral, with concentric layersextended upon each other around said axis, said steps being performed inthe order named as parts of a unitary operation.

3. The method of waving hair which comprises the steps of winding astrand or tress of hair to form the same partly into a helicoid andpartly into concentric layers superimposed upon said helicoid, andinoistening and heat-treating said strand, to condition the hair and setthe wave therein, said steps being performed concurrently as parts of aunitary operation.

4. In the method of waving hair attached to the human head or likesupport, the steps of winding a portion of a tress or strand of hairnear to the region of its attachment into a helicoid, thereafterspreading the unwound free portion of each strand over, and forming thesame concentrically around, the first-named wound portion.

5. The method of waving hair which comprises dividing the hair intostrands, securing one strand 5 adjacent to the scalp within a clampingdevice, winding upon a rod said strand from its end adjacent to thescalp to its free end, partly in the form of a helicoid, and partly inthe form of extended concentric layers, treating said strand with asolution, and enclosing the strand in a substantially moisture tightenvelope, covering said envelope with a heating unit, and then causingsaid heating unit to apply heat to said strand.

6. The method of waving hair which comprises forming the portion of atress or strand of hair adjacent to the root end thereof into arelatively large helicoid and progressively forming the portion of saidstrand more remote from said root end into a relatively close curl withextended concentric layers.

'7. The method of waving hair which comprises the steps of forming ahelicoidal curl and a substantially concentric curl, in the order named,in the same tress of hair.

i DANIEL LAKENBACH.

